Peace

I know it's been a few days since I've posted anything here. It's getting a bit crazy around here with all the packing, and this is the last complete entry in my journal archives! I have two incomplete thoughts that I want to finish - or at least get to a sufficient form to post - so hopefully you'll see those soon. I hope to also be able to post some of my new thoughts before we move, but I can't promise anything. I will put most of my effort into keeping up with the family blog so that everyone can stay updated on what's going on with us. So, if you don't see anything on this site for a while, know that I'm coming back - it will just probably be mid-July before I'm regularly posting here again.

(Written 5-7-08)
I was reading in Philippians the other day. I think Philippians 4 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I go back to it time and time again. God uses it over and over again to correct me in the areas I struggle with the most – being joyful, avoiding worry, accepting what He has to offer, controlling my mind, and making sure to present myself to other people in a way that is glorifying to God and edifying to them. At the same time, though, the chapter is so familiar that many times it’s easy to just skim over it and not really think about what I’m reading. As I was completing Philippians this time around, I wanted to be very intentional about reading that last chapter.

Nothing new or profound presented itself to me, but the Lord used that reading to remind me of the depth of peace. Peace is something I have sought out, clung to, coveted, and prayed for numerous times over the past months. I read verse 7 as I had read it many times before, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” John 14:27 also came to mind, which reads, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

The Lord reminded me of a few things…
1) Peace comes straight from the Lord. It is a gift from Him. It’s not a payment for something I’ve done, or a reward for good deeds. It’s His to give. There is only one thing we have to do to receive it – we have to be willing. How do we show willingness? By obedience in the area of removing those things that block His peace. Even though peace is not a reward for obedience, it is a natural consequence, and without obedience, we cannot have it. He has told us to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”(vs 6) He has also instructed us, “do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” In these ways we are actively seeking and receiving His peace.
2) Peace is never based on circumstances. Sometimes it is in spite of circumstances! In fact, it seems as though we seek it more in tough circumstances than in easy, so we might seem to have peace more when life is hard than when life is smooth. But, the peace is there for us all the time. Never ending and never failing.
3) Many times we think of peace as passive. It is the absence of conflict or anxiety; it is a sense of rest. Oh, it is so much more than that! Verse 7 says that peace “will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus!” Guarding is not a passive activity! To guard is to constantly be on the alert, to be ready to fight off any enemy that comes to attack. When someone is guarding something, that someone is expected to be constantly alert, constantly awake, covering everything in his territory without fail, noticing any little thing that is out of the ordinary whether good or bad. A guard is responsible to let in the good and keep out the bad. Guarding is a very active role, and that’s the role of peace in our lives!

Will we choose to receive His peace? Not once, not here and there, but on a day to day basis? Will we thankfully lift up those things that might bring us worry and truly submit them to God so that His peace may come in and do its work? Will we utilize the most amazing guard in existence? It’s there – waiting.